| I had a similar experience on a smaller scale (but it was huge to me). Spent around $300 on a mobile game that was on top the charts at the time. Before that I didn't think I was the type of person who could fall prey to such a thing. A bigger mistake was thinking that there was "a type of person". (Or maybe there is and I'm in denial!) It was humbling to realize how warped and blind I became. Had to google it, but the game was Game of War: Fire Age. At the time they had a gambling mechanic where you'd buy chest with say 1000 gems and, for a time, it would be guaranteed to grant you well over 1000 gems. That hooked me and I felt really smart. Then they set the real plan into action --gradually and silently nerfing the payouts. And I played right into it, spending a little more and a little more to keep up. This was 2018, or so, I think. So, for me, it was my pride and ego combined with seeing a rise in leaderboards and esteem in my clan that hooked me. The core game mechanic was one where everything you built up would be utterly destroyed by someone much stronger every day or two, but you'd be left with just enough that you felt like you could rebuild and get stronger. And just another IAP or two would prevent it from happening again. It would help, but it only meant that you were an even juicier target for an even bigger whale. The game was slick, but not too slick. It had some rough UI elements which perversely made me less alert to how well-engineered the IAP psychology was. |
It's the second one. Only 3.5% of players spend anything on freemium games. A significantly smaller fraction of players spend over $100.